EICR cost 3 bed house: what a three bedroom property changes about the price, and what an eicr cost 3 bed house quote should say

How eicr cost, three bed house works

1. Translate bedrooms into circuits. Open the consumer unit and count the ways in use. Three bedrooms with a shower, an electric cooker and a garage supply is a bigger job than three bedrooms with a gas boiler and no outbuilding, and the difference is several circuits of testing time.
2. Say whether the property is occupied. Testing means turning the power off circuit by circuit. An empty property between tenancies is quicker and cheaper to test than one where furniture has to be moved, sockets are behind beds and somebody is working from home while the lights go out.
3. Flag anything already known. An old rewireable fuse box, no RCD protection, a previous report with outstanding items, an extension wired by somebody else. Each of these makes the inspection longer and makes remedial work more likely, and an inspector who hears about them beforehand can quote for the job that exists.
4. Ask what the price includes. Whether minor remedials such as tightening connections are done on the visit, whether the report is issued digitally the same day, and whether a re-inspection after remedial work is chargeable. Two quotes that look the same rarely include the same things.

Paperwork and evidence

Common questions

Why is an EICR not priced per bedroom?

Because the inspector tests circuits, not rooms. Two houses with the same number of bedrooms can have very different boards, and the number of ways in the consumer unit is the honest unit of work.

Does an empty house cost less to inspect?

Usually yes. Access is quicker, there is nobody to work around and the power can be off for longer, so the same number of circuits takes less time.

Will an older three bedroom house cost more?

Often. Older installations take longer to test, are more likely to produce observations, and more likely to need remedial work before the report can be satisfactory.

Is the electrical installation condition report cost the same for a flat as for a house?

Usually lower for a flat, and for the reason the whole page turns on: a flat has fewer circuits. One consumer unit with lighting, a ring final, a cooker or shower circuit and little else tests faster than a house with an outside supply, a garage and a loft conversion. Where a flat costs more than expected it is access, because testing means turning circuits off in an occupied home and the landlord's electrician still has to reach the board, which in some blocks is in a communal cupboard somebody else holds the key to.

What decides the cost of electrical installation condition report work?

Four things, in order of weight. The number of circuits in use, because each one is separately inspected and tested. Access, meaning whether the property is empty or occupied and whether furniture has to move. What is already known, because an old fuse box, no RCD protection or an extension somebody else wired makes the job longer and remedial work likelier. And what the price includes: whether minor remedials are done on the visit, whether the report is issued digitally, and whether a re-inspection after remedial work is chargeable.

Is the landlords electrical certificate cost different from an owner occupier's?

The inspection is the same and so is the price for the same property. What differs is the obligation around it. A private landlord in England must have the installation inspected and tested at intervals of no more than five years, give the tenant a copy of the report, and act on anything the report requires within the period it states. An owner occupier buys the same exercise when they choose to. So the recurring cost is the landlord's, and it is worth asking for the next inspection date in writing rather than working it out later.

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